The Dark Of Night
by Verinorina
Summary: Adelina Amouteru has survived the Underworld as a constellation up high in the sky. She can come down and rejoin the mortal world at midnight. It is a happier fate than she could have wished for. But there is only one more thing she wishes for: Magiano. !DISCONTINUED!
1. Chapter 1

_And as the goddess fell from the sky, the people below cheered, all but one._

 _The Rise and Fall of the Stars, various authers_

Adelina Amouteru

It is almost time.  
From my domain up in the stars, I can see everything down below, except those in the Underworld.  
I was once there. In fact, I even perished there.  
It's almost midnight. The tiny dots that are humans are barely visible. I can almost see a specific person . . . a specific person with dark braids.  
My heart leaps.  
I want to call out to him, but it's not midnight yet. I am frozen in the sky as a constellation.  
I see Magiano unpack his bags and sit on the ground, strumming his lute and humming. I see him drumming his fingers on the ground, waiting, waiting . . .  
And then, the time has come.  
My constellation lights up like a set of lanterns. The brightest star glows, glows, glows. My very heart seems to glow. Perhaps that is what makes the bright star. And then I feel myself leaving the heavens, returning once again to mortal land.  
My feet touch the ground. The glow around me fades. My constellation in the sky winks out of existence, as if it was never there in the first place.  
"Magiano," I whisper. My voice is the faintest touch of a whisper, so quiet I can barely hear it. I walk to him and smile.  
"Mi Adelinetta," he whispers. He smiles, stands up, his lute forgotten. The beautiful melody cuts off, and he strokes my scarred eyelid.  
"You shouldn't have done that," I whisper. My voice is thick with emotion. "It was a beautiful song. What were you playing?"  
" 'The River Maiden's Lullaby'," Magiano whispers. A smile plays across his face. He leans closer. "You know it, don't you?"  
With a pang, the name strikes me. Of course I know it. Why didn't I recognize it earlier?  
Magiano smiles. "Come with me, mi Adelinetta."  
He leans in, and his lips brush mine for the tiniest second. I take a sharp inhale, wondering if the kiss was accidental, but Magiano's mischievous look tells me otherwise. He comes back for another one, real this time, and much longer.  
"Violetta," I say when we pull apart. "Where's Violetta?"  
"She's waiting for you," Magiano whispers. He picks up his lute and his clock and stuffs them in his bag. I watch, my Sealand silks flapping in the wind. How long ago I wore these silks and was able to call myself queen. I wait for the whispers to say, oh, and how you enjoyed it. Don't you want to sit on that throne again? What has your sister done to get the throne, when you have bled and sacrificed for it?  
But they don't speak, and then I realize that my powers are gone.  
Magiano catches me shivering. "Cold?" he asks.  
I start to shake my head, even though I am cold. I don't want to overwork Magiano. For a fleeting instant, I wish I had my old powers back so that I could weave an illusion of me not cold over my chattering teeth and pale cheeks.  
Magiano lifts an eyebrow.  
My shake changes to a nod.  
"Yeah, I thought so." Magiano pulls a thick blanket out of his saddlebags. "I only brought this and a handful of pillows. I don't want to go too hard on my horse. Packed light."  
I can only nod. Magiano swings himself up on his horse and offers me a hand. "Want to come up?"  
I accept his hand. Magiano clicks his tongue, and the horse gallops off.  
Sleep threatens to overcome me. I lean against Magiano's warm shoulder and my eye starts to close.  
"Sleep," Magiano whispers, stroking my silver hair. "We will be there in the morning, mi Adelinetta."  
I can only nod. Before I know it, I'm fast asleep.

Violetta Amouteru

"Is there any news?"  
"Your Majesty, we are not entirely sure yet. Please be patient -"  
I rub my eyes. I might be a kind and loved queen, but my patience will not stretch until here. "I'm done with being patient," I snap. My long dark locks fall over my face, hiding the bags under my eyes. "Stop beating around the bush. Give me some direct answers for once. Where is Magiano?"  
Sergio hesitates. "We do not know, Your Majesty."  
"Fine." I turn around and stomp out of the throne room, retreating to my chambers. I know that this is not how a queen should behave, but when it comes to my sister . . .  
It's been one year after Adelina's temporary death. One year since I've been made queen. My people have loved me - they still do. But maybe they were just loyal to me because they were glad to see the end of a queen like Adelina. She's not evil. I stand by that. But she could be a bit cruel sometimes. Her desire for justice for malfettos helped give birth to her cruelty.  
Little did my people know, Adelina is not dead.  
Day after day I stare out my window, often imagining a boy with olive skin and long dark braids riding to my palace on horseback with a girl with silver hair behind him. My lips often form his name: Magiano. But more often:  
Adelina.  
I sigh and flick off the lights. I collapse on my bed, my eyes closing and sleep threatening to overcome me. When Adelina was queen, it had looked so effortless. I rub my temples.  
I give way to sweet dreams and soft pillows and downy blankets.


	2. Chapter 2

_And the girl and her lover rode into the town together on horseback, unknowing of all the horrific events in front of them._

 _Julietta and her Lover by Harriet Justine_

Adelina Amouteru

It is Magiano's whispering voice that wakes me.  
"We're here, Adelina," he whispers. "Wake up."  
I jolt out of my confused dreams and wake up, slumped against the horse's neck. Magiano is watching a satisfied innkeeper walk away with a jingling bag filled to the brim with coins, as the merchant's daughter I once was. My father is dead now. Nothing will bring him back, and I don't want him to come back. I am perfectly happy as it is now.  
"Did you book an inn?" I murmur. It seems like I have only returned to the mortal world a few minutes ago. I must adapt to it before I can move around freely, without any sign of weakness.  
Magiano nods. "Can you walk?"  
"I think so." I sling one leg over the horse's back and attempt to slide off. I crumple to the ground, my breathing shallow, my vision blotting red.  
"Still weak," I hear Magiano chuckle, and I have a sudden flashback of Dante and Gemma advancing on me during my training as a Young Elite. _What wolf? She's a little lamb._ Dante's voice reverberates in my head.  
Far from infuriating me, it makes me feel homesick for my days as an Elite.  
 _What are you thinking about, Adelina?_ a small, irritating voice whispers in my ear. _You almost went insane. Why do you crave the days when you were racked by so much pain?_  
I feel Magiano's arms slide under me and I feel a sudden rush of dizziness as the ground leaves me. My head lolls as my vision blurs.  
"Easy," I hear him whisper.  
Sleep attacks me and I succumb to the waiting darkness.

I wake in a lit bedchamber. Nothing special - just a wooden dresser drawer, a white lamp and lavender candles here and there and of course the bed I am lying on.  
The door to my bedchamber creaks open and Magiano steps in, holding one thick white letter in his hand.  
"Morning," he says easily. "I got a letter from Lucent and Queen Maeve."  
I try and sit up. I succeed. A cold, wet cloth falls from my forehead into my lap, and as I stare at the water from it slowly seeping into my sheets, turning them dark, a blot in an endless field of white. Magiano rips the envelope open.  
"They're in the Sunlands, securing Violetta's rule in Tamoura." Magiano frowns. "I have bad memories about Tamoura."  
I don't respond. Staring at the letter in Magiano's hand, I feel a sudden sense of loss, a sudden sense of betrayal.  
"What? Ate a bad cheese clump? That happened to me once. The pains in my stomach, seriously . . ."  
"No . . . it's not that." Tears threaten to overwhelm my eyes. "Did Violetta write?"  
Magiano's cheerful mood subsides. "Hmm?" he asks, absentmindedly pulling his lute out of his khaki pack and strumming a few chords, hoping that his playing will change the subject.  
"Did Violetta write me any letters?"  
My voice is firm, smooth, commanding, betraying none of the growing anger and rage in the pit of my stomach. I remember this voice, it was the voice of a once-upon-a-time-Queen-of-the-Sealands when she ordered the public execution of a non-marked. "Surely my sister would have believed you would have returned to her with me," I say. "Well? Did she?"  
Magiano flinches at the sudden ruthlessness and harshness in my voice. "None so far. If she has sent some, they haven't arrived yet."  
I open my mouth to scream with rage, but Magiano puts a gentle hand on my mouth and I collapse back on my pillows, weak with hopeless longing for multiple things. To scream, to sob, to kiss, to cling. "I want to see Violetta again so badly," I whisper.  
"I know," Magiano whispers back, his voice soothing, gentle. "I miss her too."  
"Magiano," I whisper, and he looks at me.  
"Yes?" he asks, humming and strumming his lute.  
"How long will I be able to sit with you, to talk with you, to be with you? How long will I be able to remain in the mortal world?"  
Clearly, this question has been bothering Magiano too. He shifts, suddenly uncomfortable, and says, "I don't know, mi Adelinetta. I don't know."  
We remain like that for a few more seconds, each seeking comfort and shelter in the other, each taking in and enjoying each other's being there. Then Magiano stands up.  
"Are you fit to move?" he asks. His eyes pierce me. "Answer honestly this time."  
I shake my head weakly. I can barely speak, much less move.  
"Then you'll have to lean on me," Magiano says, his eyes twinkling. "I need to gain more information about the Queen of the Sealands."  
"Violetta?" I whisper.  
"We need to go to her." Magiano's tone is light, but that conceals a darkness, a deep darkness. "In Violetta's protection is probably the only place where we'll ever be safe."  
"Do you think she'll give the throne back to me?" I whisper, my voice cracked.  
Magiano shifts, his pupils suddenly darting all over the place, and if I was still an Elite, I would have said that his energy shifted from easy casualness to anxious uneasiness.  
"Because I don't want it."  
My voice and words, clearer and sharper than the blade of a knife cutting through the air, reverberate through the room - or maybe that's just me. Either way, my words have an effect on Magiano.  
His eyes twinkle like the stars of my constellation. "Very good, mi Adelinetta. You've improved."  
"Help me up." I stretch out a hand, and Magiano takes it at once, pulling me up, but not roughly.  
"You're a mess," he teases slightly. "What will I look like, supporting you through the market?"  
I laugh. How good it feels to laugh. "Where are we?"  
"Somewhere in Dumor." Magiano passes a hand over his eyes, and suddenly I realize how hard it must have been for him, plodding on all these days while I slept. "Let's go."  
I lean on him and we walk out of the inn and into the busy streets.  
At a glance, I can tell that these streets are very festive. It must be a time for celebrations in Dumor. Colourful silks hang from building balconies and everyone is laughing, exchanging talk and drink. Lamps hang from arches above the cobblestoned street, and a group of dancers are performing in the square, their colorful silks flying in the wind like birds' wings, their sparkly golden jewelry glinting in the light of the sun like a thousand stars.  
The colorful dancers remind me of the time when I first met Magiano, after the Daggers cast me out, when we were seeking to build a society of our own. He had made me a deal: if Violetta and I stole the Night King's diamond pin before him, he would join our society. We had disguised ourselves as dancers to get inside the palace. That was so long ago, when I still had desires for the throne of Kenettra, and yet the memory is clear and free from imperfections, clearer than the note from a crystal bell.  
"Where should we go?" Magiano whispers in my ear.  
I wearily lift my head. "Is there a bar around here? Bars would be the perfect place to exchange gossip."  
Magiano shrugs. "I don't know. I can ask around."  
"Please do." I don't know why I still feel this weary. Three days have passed since I came down from the stars. My exhaustion usually vanishes after a day and a half. The gods help me get used to the mortal world. Are they forgetting their debt? Is that why I still feel so weak and helpless, like a kitten with its eyes still closed, trying to make sense of a world it cannot see and understand?  
We pass a gambling stand. Two men, one tall, one short, are hiding in the shadows, watching the gamblers call out their numbers and talking amongst themselves of the new queen's rule.  
Violetta.  
I hear Magiano draw a sharp inhale. "Hear them?" he asks.  
I shake my head. "Can you edge a little closer?"  
Pretending he was interested in the gambling, Magiano scoots closer. I remember that he was once the operator of one, and a smile touches my lips.  
"Any news from the new queen?" the tall man asks. He has a rather hunched frame, and he has a sallow, pockmarked face with sunken eyes.  
The shorter man shakes his head. He has a double chin, a rather round belly and pudgy, baby-like hands, with short fingers. "Nah. But this new queen - Vanessa or something - has got to better than that last one - what was her name? Angelica?"  
"Adelina," the tall man says impatiently. "And the new queen's name is Violetta. But do you have any news of her rule? What of the Inquisition?"  
The pudgy man shakes his head, making his chin jiggle like a plate of jelly. "I'm not too sure, but I think Valerie -"  
"Violetta!" the tall man corrects impatiently.  
"Heh, knew it was something of that sort. Anyway, I think Violetta disbanded the Inquisition."  
My eyes widen in shock. Violetta, disband the Inquisition?  
Well, it is the kind of thing she would do. It's not that I feel sorry for the Inquisition. Just . . . it's been around for so long, during the king's rule and Giulietta's rule and my rule, that the prospect of it suddenly gone stuns me. I feel Magiano stiffen against me, and we both cling tighter to each other, as if we would turn invisible to everyone around us if we just hugged.  
Fear pounds its steady drumbeat in my ears, drowning out all other noise. My heartbeat speeds up, and I feel dizzy and feverish.  
"Good riddance," the tall man says dispassionately. "The Inquisition Axis was just a bunch of rats, poking their filthy little noses in where they don't belong."  
It surprises me to hear anyone talking about the Inquisition Axis with such open dislike. Before, the king would have their head. Or the queen. Two queens, Giulietta and I.  
"Do you want to hear more?" the pudgy man asks.  
The tall man's face stretches into a gruesome grin. "Louis, you're like a information paper - always caught up on the latest gossip."  
"Thanks, Paul," the man named Louis chuckles. "Well, some people say that the Elites are gone."  
"Yea, haven't been seeing them around a lot. But how did they disappear?"  
"No one knows, Paul," Louis says, rubbing his huge chin. "Some say that they sank into the earth and never came back."  
The two men walk away, chatting amongst themselves.  
I open my mouth to give an exclamation, but Magiano puts a finger to my lips. "Hush, mi Adelinetta," he says. "Don't trust them too much. Since when have fat little dwarven men been correct?"  
A silent laugh bubbles to my lips. But concern lingers in my eyes. "The part about the Inquisition Axis being disbanded . . . I think it's correct, or reasonably accurate. Violetta seems like the person to do that, after the Inquisition has caused so many people so much trouble. But who will peacekeep instead of them?"  
"A good queen doesn't need peacekeepers," Magiano whispers. "If she is a good and kind queen, no one will rebel."  
I know he doesn't mean it like this, but his words still stab my heart. It's not my fault I was an evil, selfish queen when I ruled. I was under the influence of my powers . . . darkness . . . insanity . . .  
Magiano seems to sense the double meaning he didn't mean to put in his words, and he quickly reaches out and brushes my cheek. "Hey, I didn't mean it like that."  
I brush it aside. "I'm fine. We need to go and get some more information, though. Violetta's location would be nice."  
"Yes, and if she's moving anywhere in the next few days." Magiano shudders. "I hope she's not. I've been gone a year. She might have sent out search parties, or she might have started searching herself. It would be a big pain if we had to track her down all over again."  
A pang of guilt stabs me in the heart, and I look down. "I'm sorry."  
"For what?" Magiano tilts his head curiously.  
"For being so useless. For being an extra piece of luggage." At that moment, I make a silent vow to myself. I make a vow that I will push myself harder to become more of a use. To be less of an extra piece of luggage.  
Magiano laughs mockingly. "Is it your fault that you are tired? Did you think, during your time as a constellation, that you wanted to feel really exhausted and weak when you come back to earth?"  
I shake my head, but I feel as if a block of iron has been lifted from my lungs, allowing me to breathe freely once again.  
"I thought so." Magiano smiles. "C'mon, let's go see if there's a bar around here."


	3. Chapter 3

Raffaele Laurent Bessette

Violetta is having her nightmares again.  
I still call her Violetta, even after all this time. Calling her "Your Majesty" sounds weird, alien even to my tongue.  
I stand in the open doorway of Violetta's bedchambers, watching her whimpering on her bed. Sweat streams down her forehead like water through a broken dam. Her long dark curls are splayed out on her snow white pillow like a fan of inky-black darkness.  
I wish I could shake her out of her nightmares and save her the trouble. But she's exhausted. She needs her sleep, however disturbing it may be.  
"Raffaele."  
I turn around. Sergio is standing behind me in the corridor.  
"I have odd news."  
"What?" I ask, hastily stepping out of Violetta's chambers and slamming the door shut.  
"I just received this letter from Maeve and Lucent, in Beldain. They have been seeing strange things. The temples. Do you know of them?"  
I nod. "Of course."  
"They have been crumbling. The priests are gone. They are completely abandoned and uninhabited."  
"What? Surely the people of Beldain wouldn't abandon the gods!" I cry, my calm demeanor cracking. "Is it happening here, too?"  
Sergio beckons. "Come with me."  
He pulls me to the palace's balcony and gestures to the temples. My jaw drops in shock. I haven't paid them much attention, but - how could I possibly miss seeing this?  
The temples are collapsed. The paint is peeling off, and an aura of darkness hangs over it. The people in the streets below, who usually flock to the temples when something bad happens, now avoid the temples completely, shooting them nervous looks as if the temples would suddenly leap up on them and curse them.  
"They're . . . they're in ruins," I whisper. "They were a beautiful piece of art." My eyes lift to Sergio, and my voice comes out flat and cold. "Who ordered this? Did Violetta?"  
"No one did," Sergio says flatly. "It started happening yesterday. I walked around Estenzia today and questioned everyone. Everyone swore they didn't lay a finger on the temples. The temples just started to crumble, and by today, they are in complete ruins. It was, or seemed to be, completely natural."  
"The temples are built on the sturdiest ground in Estenzia," I say. "How could they have just _collapsed_?"  
"Because, Raffaele," Sergio says, and for the first time he truly meets my eyes. "The gods are dying."


	4. Chapter 4

_The boy travelled a hundred miles_  
 _Drank a hundred gallons of water_  
 _Ate one hundred tons of food_  
 _And when he arrived at the palace_  
 _To deliver his news_  
 _The king and queen fell down laughing_  
 _And the boy died shortly afterwards._

 _The Adventures of Jack the Messenger-Boy by Kelly Laura Corrigan_

Violetta Amouteru

"You must be jesting. How is that possible?"  
Sergio shifts uncomfortably in his kneel before me on my throne. "The proof is very accurate, I can assure you that, Your Majesty. Everyone swore - the temples are - the gods are dying, Your Majesty. Raffaele confirmed it."  
"Raffaele is no longer an Elite, Sergio, and neither are you. Prove to me that the gods are dying, for if the gods are dying, Sergio, the world will die too." I sigh, my mind occupied with the strange nightmare I had last night, of a pulsing ball of green and blue energy. It had shocked me whenever I touched it, and soon the pain became continuous. When I had woke up, my nightmare of false pain had reminded me of Adelina's pain illusions.  
"Trust me on this, Your Majesty. The gods are dying."  
I pause to scrutinize Sergio's grave face. Raffaele's encouraging nods.  
"I will trust you."  
Sergio's face relaxes.  
"But answer me this, Sergio. How can the gods die? I thought - or believed, as everyone did - that the gods are immortal."  
Sergio smiles with satisfaction. I know he has thought of an answer before he has confronted me with this.  
"The Elites gave up their powers, yes?"  
"Yes," I say.  
"The powers that belonged to the gods were forced to work just as well in weak mortal bodies. And when they returned to the gods, they worked less well for them. Why? Because the powers were so used to working in mortal bodies that they lost their power to work in immortal. And without their powers, the gods became a mix, I guess. A hybrid, not yet mortal but not yet immortal, either. Somewhere in between. Now the gods suffer wounds that they normally would not, and that has made them weaker. It waxed stronger the contact between them and us, and they fear that they will one day walk upon the earth as mortals."  
"And will they?" I ask. Despite myself, I am intrigued. And terrified. Very, very terrified. If the gods are not gods, then who will rule the world? Who will keep order and balance?  
"If this is not fixed, yes. That is why I seek your help, Your Majesty. You are powerful, very powerful. And that is why Magiano's return is important. He used to be a very powerful and skilled Elite. Even better if he returns with Adelina."  
My heart twinges at the sound of my sister's name, and I clamp down hard on my emotions. _Careful. Can't have the Queen of the Sealands bursting into tears whenever Adelina's name is mentioned._ "But we are not Elites any more. How would that help?"  
"We were once Elites, and some of our power still lingers in us. I believe more will be coming."  
Sergio's words shock me. "You mean that we will become the Young Elites once more?"  
"Something like that, yes." Sergio smiles wolfishly. "Since the gods cannot restrain our powers by putting them in their own bodies and minds, the powers have fled back earth. I believe I know a few places where they have landed."  
 _The Elites could come back. Lucent, Adelina, Michel, Magiano, Maeve, Sergio._  
"But . . ." I think of a line that I have once said after I made a bargain after Adelina's death about the Young Elites. _They were the flash of light in a stormy sky, the fleeting darkness before dawn. Never have they existed before, nor shall they ever exist again._ This violates so many rules, goes against so many lines of poetry and so many books that have been made about the Young Elites, about their first appearance from the blood fever and their vanish from this world.  
To buy time, I say, "How will you fix this?"  
"I do not know, Your Majesty. We will have to discuss this matter once Adelina and Magiano are back."  
"What of Maeve and Lucent?" I ask.  
To my surprise, it is not Sergio who answers, but Raffaele. "You know what to do, Your Majesty."  
And I do.  
Ten minutes later, a small white dove carrying a message to Maeve and Lucent flies above Estenzia, headed for the city of Beldain in the Skylands.


	5. Chapter 5

_The old man looks sympathetically at the young boy as he says, "Those were not traders, m'boy, but pirates."_  
 _"Pirates!" the young boy exclaims. "How long I've waited to see one!"_  
 _And like that, he dashes out towards the deadly ship, not knowing the danger of the pirates on board, and not knowing that today was the last day of his life._

 _Julian the Pirate's Boy by Howard J'Ole_

Adelina Amouteru

"Still not enough," Magiano says. He paces the length of my bedchamber as I watch wearily. "We need more information."  
"How's this for an idea," I say. "Why don't we just go to Estenzia? That's where Violetta's palace is, isn't it? Even if she's not there, Sergio or Raffaele could tell us. And even if they're gone as well, the people would be informed. They might know."  
Magiano's jaw drops in mock awe, although I can sense a faint hint of grudging respect behind his flippant attitude. "Why didn't I think of that before?" he teases. "You're the former queen - is Dumor very close to Estenzia?"  
I rack my brains, trying to think back to the dark days when I ruled as Queen of the Sealands. I'd consulted a map probably six times per day. I remember it quite clearly.  
"It's not an appalling distance," I say carefully, "although it's quite a bit. I think we'll have to travel by boat. Luckily, Estenzia is pretty close to the sea, so we won't have to pass through any neighborhooding towns to get there."  
Magiano nods with a sly grin on his face. "That's quite fortunate. I'd hate if some petty little rumor about us got out."  
I give him a playful shove. Even that little motion makes me dizzy and sick. My voice is croaky when I speak. "My only worry is how I'm going to survive the boat ride."  
"Don't worry, my love. You have me," Magiano says.  
I smile. "Let's go check out the ports.  
I reach up and wrap my arms around Magiano's neck. He allows me to pull myself up gently as not to strangle him and I pull a thick travelling cloak over my shivering shoulders. I lean against him as we walk into the square.  
"Excuse me, ma'am," I call out to a passing woman. "Do you possibly know where to get a boat ride to Estenzia?"  
"No," she says coldly, and walks away with a stiff back.  
"That was friendly," Magiano mutters.  
"It's okay," I tell him. "The boats are over there."  
I point to a painted sign with DUMOR'S BOATS and a red arrow pointing east, where, if I stand on my tiptoes, I can see a huge stretch of emerald-green waters rippling, broken only by the blindingly white boats.  
"I'll have to run," Magiano says. "Are you up for running?"  
"I'll try," I say. As I settle myself into a running stance, I spot an odd thing on the 's a ball-like thing, colored blue and green, and releases a weird hum of energy. It glows and pulses like something . . . something alive.  
"Adelina?" I hear Magiano call, but it's in vain. I walk towards the ball and pick it up.  
The ball breaks.  
I let out a huge gasp and topple forward. My already weakened body collapses under the strain. It feels like an invisible hand is pinching my airway shut, taking away the ability to breathe. I can see the pieces of the blue-green ball slowly melting into me, and I shudder. I want to shake them off, but I'm too weak to even blink, much less move. I flap around on the ground, screaming for air. Just when I'm convinced I'll die of suffocation, the hand pinching my airway shut lets me go and I take a huge gulp of air, but my head is already spinning. I feel a darkness pooling in my stomach and the last thing I see is glints of color before I pass out.

 **LINEBREAK**

"Adelina."  
I open my eyes and look up into Magiano's face.  
"What happened?" we both ask.  
Suddenly, I freeze. I see a very familiar thing . . . threads. Glittering threads, energy.  
My eyes widen in disbelief. "It can't be."  
Magiano tilts his head. "What?"  
Experimentally, I tug on some threads. A glittering illusion of a rose appears in front of me.  
Magiano staggers back. "How . . . you . . . you gave up your powers!"  
"I didn't know I had them." My heart is pounding. Then I remember the ball. "The ball I held . . . something about the ball. It . . . it must have given me my power back."  
Magiano can only stare.  
"Why didn't the gods take it?" I whisper. "I gave it up! I don't want it!"  
Realization dawns on Magiano's face. I lift my hand and slice it through the rose viciously. It disappears in an almost pitiful puff.  
"Adelina." Magiano grabs my hand, and I freeze, shaken out of my sudden fit of anger.  
"The gods are in trouble."

 **LINEBREAK**

Violetta Amouteru

It's been several days since I last sent the dove to Maeve and Lucent. They still haven't replied.  
"I can send another one," Sergio offers when I complain about this to him in a very un-queenly way. Sergio is the only person I can feel normal around. Beneath the regal Sealand silks, I am just Violetta Amouteru. Just another person.  
"No, no," I say, waving him off. "I just want to know . . . are they not replying because the dove hasn't reached them yet . . . or because they don't want to, on purpose?"  
Sergio stares out over the land of Estenzia. We are both on the royal balcony with Raffaele beside us. No guards trail us. I have ordered them not to. This meeting is totally and completely private.  
Sergio watches the sun sink below the horizon. "Maeve used to be a very powerful Elite," he says. "It is essential that we meet with her."  
"Adelina was a powerful Elite as well," I press. "She could substitute for Maeve if necessary."  
"It won't be necessary," Raffaele says quietly. "I know Lucent. She will come."  
"What does Lucent have to do with Maeve?" I ask bitterly. "Either she comes or she doesn't. Let's not worry about it."  
Raffaele inclines his head. "Your Majesty."  
"I am tired," I say shortly, "and it is my guess that you are too. Let us continue talk in the morning."  
I walk briskly off the balcony and stride away down the dark corridors. Sleep envelops me in its arms when I fall upon my bed, and pretty soon I am snoring.

 **LINEBREAK**

I dream of Adelina.  
She is locked inside her bedchambers with food and water withheld from her. I can hear her crying for me, but Father leans close and whispers, "Do not go to her, Violetta. Adelina is a bad influence on you. You are pure. She is tainted. Being with her will only taint _you._ "  
Her cries grow more desperate as the day grows longer. They tear at my heart, but then I realize what she is yelling. She is not yelling my name, _Violetta_. She was crying, "Your Majesty! Your Majesty!"  
 _How odd_ , I think. I walk to her bedchamber and unlock it, and a fire demon launches itself at me, its claws slashing my face and opening deep cuts. I see its snarling face inches away from mine, its breath hot and pungent upon my face. Heat emanates from it, so strong and so hot that I think I'm going to burn there, on the floor.  
Then I am jolted out of my sleep. Raffaele is standing there, Sergio by his side. Sergio is holding a white envelope in his hand, stamped with the royal seal of Beldain. Raffaele is holding a lantern close to my face. The oil gives off a pungent smell, like burning rubber.  
"You weren't waking up," Sergio whispered. "We thought you were dead."  
"Well, I'm not, aren't I?" I ask, pushing myself up in bed. "What is it?"  
"We finally received a letter from Queen Maeve."


	6. Chapter 6

_There were many rumours about the Young Elites. Some curse them as upscale malfettos, while others hate them as demons. But others worship them as children of the gods. This is extremely inaccurate, for they walk the mortal earth as well as you and me._

 _A History of the Young Elites, by Millicent Julietta Dove_

Adelina Amouteru

The ship lurches underneath me, and my newest illusion scatters like the last threads of night before the strong, pure rays of dawn.  
How beautiful the sky is. How choppy the waters are. How ironic, that such bad sailing conditions could occur with the brightest, most cloudless, most beautiful blue sky.  
Magiano comes over to me, sits on a coil of rope and watches as I weave an illusion of a bright red rose.  
He reaches out a hand to touch its seemingly solid petals, but I swipe a vicious hand though the illusion. The rose disappears in a puff of black smoke.  
Magiano gives me a hurt frown. "It was pretty."  
" _I hate it,_ " I breathe, forcing the words out one by one through gritted teeth. "I hate what I can do. _I don't want it anymore,_ I thought I made that clear. _Why have they given it back to me? Why?_ "  
He doesn't answer, instead reaches out and touches my shoulder with a reassuring hand. I clamp down the urge to shrug it off. "Relax, mi Adelinetta. Everything will turn out fine. Once we get to Estenzia, we will be able to -"  
He freezes mid-sentence; one of the sailors manning the ship had drifted over, apparently eager to listen to our conversation.  
"What will we do when we get back to Estenzia?" I whisper, once the sailor had slumped away, discouraged. "Join Violetta, of course," I say hastily, before Magiano can say it for me. "But what will we do about my sudden power return? Should I hide it? Should we discuss it?"  
Magiano lets out an evil cackle. "Remember the last time you tried to hide stuff, my love? That didn't work out so well. You might want to try a different strategy."  
I blink in surprise at his sarcastic reply, then I burst out laughing. "That's right," I say between giggles. "Okay, I'll tell them. But I'll only tell them when they've all sworn an oath that they won't freak out like before."  
The captain gives us a bored look and shuffles over, chewing his pipe. "Ten minutes 'till Estenzia," he says, his words muffled by his pipe, and shuffles away.  
Magiano watches him go with an incredulous expression on his face. "My, he's even more entertaining than I expected - much more humor than a dead log!"  
I snort, then groan as the ship gives another humongous lurch. "Maybe I should go downstairs."  
"Yeah, maybe you should." Magiano backs away with a mock-disgusted expression on his face. "I don't want you retching all over me." He waves his hand delicately in front of his face.  
I snort, without groaning this time.  
Crawling over to the ladder, I shimmy down it into my chambers. I light a candle wearily and collapse in bed.  
I dream of Violetta.  
The throne room in the palace of Estenzia - I remember it so well. I can clearly picture Violetta sitting on it, dressed in luxurious Sealand silks, the royal crown perched atop her head of long, dark curls. She's giving orders to a blank-faced general. As I watch, the general's face shifts repeatedly into other peoples' faces.  
Violetta and the throne room melt away. I can only see the general, who has turned into Teren.  
No. But I can't speak. My tongue is frozen, stiff. I lunge aside at the last moment, but Teren somehow catches me.  
"Let's play, my little wolf," he snarls.  
He pulls his blade up to my throat with enough force to draw blood. I choke.  
Teren's face blanks. He turns into my snarling father, raising his knife to punish me. I have gone against his teaching again and again, and he has finally had enough. He has risen from the dead to take his revenge.  
My tongue unfreezes. "No! N- _no_!"  
My father turns into the doctors and I am once again lying on the cot, brandy on my lips, knife raised above my eye.  
I jolt awake from my nightmare. Sweat is pouring down my forehead, but I forget all of that when Magiano comes down to my chambers.  
"Do you usually spend your leisure time breaking into girls' bedchambers?" I snap, in no mood to laugh.  
"No," he says. "Well, maybe once or twice, but that was accidental. Just saying, we've reached Estenzia." A sly smile creeps across his face.  
I leap up, all bitterness forgotten. "Already?"  
"Got lucky," Magiano says, pulling his lute off his back and plucking a few chords. "Really nice weather while you - er- slept. We pushed the boat hard, and we were lucky enough to reach the dock of Estenzia before a storm hit Dumor."  
"Great." I stand up weakly. _Violetta._  
 _Violetta is so close._  
"Violetta," I whisper. "Is she in the palace?"  
"We haven't checked yet," Magiano says. "Thought you would like to be with us when we did."  
"Thank you." My initial displeasure at him for sneaking up on me while I was stuck in the tangle of my nightmares vanishes as he helps me up the ladder to deck.  
"Violetta" is the first word out of my mouth.  
"Ah, you mean the new queen? Her palace is there," one of the sailors say, pointing to a huge glistening building.  
The royal palace of Estenzia.  
Giulietta's palace.  
 _My_ palace.  
Now it's Violetta's palace.  
I find myself wishing against my will. _Please, let her be there. Please,_ don't _let her be there._  
My heart pounds in my ears like a solemn, never-ending drumbeat as we approach the castle and possibly Violetta herself.


	7. Chapter 7

**Violetta Amouteru**

I'm lost in my nightmares.  
I search desperately for someone to pull me out of the darkness, to save me. But there is no one. I crumple on the floor, suffering.  
 _This is what it was like for Adelina when we lived with Father._  
 _This is it._  
"Your Majesty!"  
I leap up from my bed. I'm afraid to be seen like this, tired and broken. I smooth my silks and say, "Yes?"  
Sergio rushes in, a letter in his hand. He waves it triumphantly. "Your Majesty, there is word of Magiano!"  
My eyes widen. "And Adelina?"  
"She is here." There is a specific certainty in Sergio's eyes that convinces me most of all.  
"Yes!" I jump out of my chambers and follow him out of the palace.  
I see a very familiar horse, the horse that Magiano had saddled on the day of our last meeting. My heart leaps.  
Until now.  
How well I remember it, although it was so long ago.

 _Magiano had been saddling his horse. He had looked up when he saw me. He bowed his head._  
 _"Your Majesty," he had said._  
 _I had folded my hands in front of me. "You can stay, you know. There is always a place for you in the palace, and the people love you. If there is something you want, tell me, and it will be yours."_  
 _Magiano had laughed. "Lucent has already returned to Beldain with her queen. Perhaps it is my turn now."_  
 _Silence._  
 _"I've always been a wanderer. I grow restless here in the palace, even among such fine company. It is time for me to go. There are adventures waiting for me."_  
 _I sighed. I would miss the sound of his lute, his easy laughter. "The others - Raffaele, Sergio - they will want to see you before you leave."_  
 _Magiano nods. "Don't worry, I will say my proper farewells." He had reached out and placed a hand on my shoulder. "You are kind, Your Majesty. I imagine Adelina could have ruled like you, in a different life." He had studied my face, trying as always to find a glimpse of my sister in me. "Adelina would want to see you carry this torch. You will be a good queen."_  
 _I had lowered my head. "I'm afraid," I had admitted. "There is still so much broken, and so much to fix. I don't know if I can do this."_  
 _"You have Sergio at your side. You have Raffaele as your advisor. That's quite a formidable team."_  
 _"Where will you go?" I had asked._  
 _At that, Magiano had put his hand down and turned his eyes up to the sky. "I'm going to follow her, of course," Magiano had said. "As the night sky turns. When she appears on the other side of the world, I will be there, and when she returns here, so will I." Magiano had smiled at me. "This farewell is not forever. I will see you again, Violetta."_  
 _I had smiled back at him, then stepped forward and wrapped my arms around his neck. We had embraced tightly. "Until you return, then," I had whispered._  
 _"Until I return."_

"Your Majesty."  
I gasp, shaken out of the depths of my memories. Magiano is kneeling before me, a gesture of respect that is alien to me. I'm still not used to my people murmuring hushed long live the queens at me, bowing at me from every direction.  
For a fleeting second, I wonder who this stranger is in front of me. He is certainly not the Magiano I remember. He is leaner, more muscular. His jaw has a rigid line to it. His olive skin is burned darker due to his long hours of endless plodding under the hot sun. Before, his eyes had been filled with longing for a specific malfetto Now, his eyes shine with a satisfied light, like a starving beggar who has been finally sated with a hot meal.  
"Magiano," I whisper. "You've come."  
He inclines his head, a smile of amusement lifting the corners of his mouth. "And so I have."  
At that moment, Raffaele and Sergio walk in, laughing and talking together. Raffaele's eyes drift away from Sergio to rest on me, then slide automatically to the boy in front of me. Magiano.  
Raffaele freezes. He opens his mouth and closes it again. Then he takes a breath, a sharp inhale, and rushes forward to greet Magiano like an old friend.  
"Hey," Magiano says.  
"I thought you were dead," Raffaele whispers.  
"Speaking of the dead," I interrupt, "why don't we see where Adelina is?"  
I really hate to interrupt them in such an emotional moment, but I am dying to see my sister again. I still remember her glinting eyes, her long, silver hair, her missing eye. Somehow, all these flaws make her more endearing to me.  
"Adelina?" Raffaele asks, his voice growing hoarse, as if he has seen one too many dead person for today.  
"Yes, Adelina. Isn't she the person who you betrayed and made up with?" I snap, heading to the door.  
Suddenly, the door to my palace creaks open. And Adelina stands there.  
My jaw drops. She looks so familiar. Pale, weaker, but the same sister one year before.  
Adelina's eyes widen. "Mi Violettina. Your Majesty."  
Her voice is so tender, so thick with emotion, so cautious not to raise her hopes in case I was an illusion, so disbelieving yet joyful that I break down completely. "Mi Adelinetta," I say, my voice just as thick, just as cautious, just as emotional, just as tender.  
It is then, I think, that we both believe each other for who we are, and we collapse into each others' embrace, sobbing.  
"Your Majesty," Sergio says uncomfortably. "Should I . . ."  
He gestures feebly in the direction of the corridor leading away from the main lobby.  
"Yes, yes, go, go," I say, choking on tears, waving a hand at him. Sergio scurries away.  
Raffaele and Magiano head to Raffaele's chambers, chortling over Magiano's adventures. But Adelina and I stand frozen in the middle of the lobby, leaning into each other's touch, and satisfied simply with _being_ with each other.  
"You're here," I whisper. "You're _here._ "  
"I'm here, Queen Violetta," Adelina says. She slides a finger down one of my dark locks. "Your Majesty," she repeats, tasting the words.  
Tears spring to my eyes, no matter how many times I try and force them back. "I thought you were dead. I thought you were gone forever."  
"Well, I'm not."  
"Come with me to my chambers. I have _so much_ to talk about, so much to tell you."  
Adelina follows me silently to my chambers, but she stops me in the hall. She leans close and whispers, "I'm glad we're sisters."  
But there is something preoccupied about Adelina, something hesitant. The instant we are inside, she leans close and whispers, "I have my powers back."  
I recoil in shock. "How . . . how is that possible? We all gave up our powers! Remember?"  
"I didn't _choose_ it," Adelina snaps. "When I was with Magiano in Dumor, I held this pulsing ball of blue-green energy. It cut off my airway and, when I was able to breathe again, my powers were back, just like that."  
The details spin nightmarishly through my mind. _Pulsing ball of blue-green energy. Powers back. Young Elites back._  
I lean very close to my sister and whisper, "Could you create something small?"  
Adelina hesitates, but nods. She opens her palm and a dark red rose appears in her hands, its black stem thorny, its luscious, frothy petals a dark red, so dark that it looks black from a distance. I lift my hand and swipe through it, half expecting to feel the thorns rip my skin apart.  
The beautiful dark rose dissipates in a puff of black smoke.  
"You do have your powers back," I whisper in awe. "You're a Young Elite again, Adelina. White Wolf."  
I almost bow respectfully. _I shouldn't have chided Sergio so much. The gods_ are _in trouble_.  
Suddenly, the door bursts open. Raffaele, Sergio and Magiano walk in, laughing together. They freeze when they see us. Adelina's palm up as if she is about to conjure a small illusion (which she just did), my awestruck and slightly guilty expression, us leaning together, the black smoke from the rose not yet dissipated completely.  
"What is going on here?" Sergio asks sharply.  
I stand up and smooth my silks. "Sergio, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have chided you so much. The gods are in trouble. Adelina has just got her power back."  
"What?" Raffaele pushes to the front of the crowd. "Adelina, could you create something small, please?"  
My sister swallows and nods. A small, dancing faerie bursts from her palm, smiling with silent grace. She pirouettes all over Adelina's palm.  
Quite suddenly, Adelina clamps her fist shut and the faerie vanishes. When she looks up, her eyes are dark. I recognize the look. It is the look of a half-mad Queen of the Sealands, influenced by her dangerous power that is back again once more.  
 _"I didn't want this,_ " Adelina hisses, and her fist clenches tighter, as if the dancing faerie is still there, trapped inside her fist, and she is determined to kill it, to crush it. "Why? Why has my power found me once more? I gave it up to the gods. Are they not pleased with my gift? Are they not pleased of my sacrifice? ARE THEY NOT PLEASED?"  
She screams the last four words, and I rush forward and wrap my arms around my sobbing sister, beating Magiano to it. He casts me a sour, sarcastic look as he retreats.  
"It's okay, mi Adelinetta," I whisper. "It's okay."

 _And the merchant soon realized he had been tricked by the mysterious man, and he howled up at the sky_.

The Man and the Merchant, _various authors_

 **Adelina Amouteru**

I somehow fall asleep.  
Don't ask me how I did it. I somehow fall asleep in my sister's arms, and everyone slowly backs out, Magiano and Violetta fighting to see who would be the first one to walk out. Magiano finally leaves first with a sulky expression on his face and my sister, Queen of the Sealands, remains with me for the length of the night. I know all this because I am in a very fitful sleep, waking and sleeping and waking and sleeping.  
Violetta sings 'The River Maiden's Lullaby' and slowly she leaves too, leaving me sleeping on her bed. I know she might sleep in another's chambers or on the floor. She's never really minded where she slept.  
I finally give up trying to ease myself into a good, long, steady sleep, and instead sit up in bed, causing dreamlike illusions to dance across the walls of my bedroom.  
The door opens and Magiano steps in. The instant he does, he gets whacked across the face by a smiling, dancing faerie that isn't really there.  
He rubs his face in surprise, then sees me, watching my illusions. He smiles. "White Wolf."  
I jump in surprise. I'm so immersed in my illusions, I didn't hear or see him enter.  
"Hello, Magiano," I say, my throat prickly. I cease the illusions.  
He gives me a cocky smile. "Practicing, little wolf?"  
I shrug. "If I'm going to have my powers back, it's best to have full control, is it not?"  
He smiles again. "Always the clever one."  
I blush slightly, and as he comes to sit on my bed, I stir an image of a miniature Magiano, waving a bag filled with coins on my palm. I flash it in front of his face.  
"You are so cheeky," he says, and gives the illusion one tiny flick. It bursts into black smoke and out of existence.  
I smile, drained. I lean back against my pillows and say, "What are we going to do, if the gods are in trouble? Will we take over as the new gods?"  
Magiano's smile turns serious. "We have to discuss it tomorrow. We're all tired and in shock." He stands up, and I almost want to grab his arm to stop him going. _No. Please don't go, I feel so comforted when you're here. Please don't leave me alone._  
But I restrain myself, and I let Magiano step out of Violetta's bedchamber.  
Once he is gone, I step out of Violetta's chambers as well. I search for my sister, the only one who had ever showed me kindness without strings attached. I find her on the royal balconies of her palace, her Sealand silks flapping in the wind. Her long, dark curls flutter like the wings of some black, bat-like butterfly.  
"Your Majesty," I say with a bitter smile.  
Violetta turns around and sees me. "Mi Adelinetta." And suddenly I feel so guilty of feeling jealous of her. I walk to her and join her on the balcony. The fresh, sweet night air, smelling slightly of sea, whips through my long, ever-shifting silver hair. We stand together in the night, watching the stars twinkle at us from up above, otherworldly watchers. I take a deep sniff of the air.  
"It smells like home," I say simply.  
Violetta does not turn, but I can sense a softness in her voice, a vulnerability. "Anywhere with you is home for me," she whispers.  
We stare up at the sky. "Funny," I say softly.  
"What is?" Violetta asks, wrenching her gaze from the twinkling constellations and turning to me.  
I gesture up at Compasia's Swan, at all the other constellations in the sky. "Funny to think that I was once up there. That I was among the stars, another otherworldly watcher, just a pattern of stars in the sky."  
"You are never just a pattern of stars in the sky, mi Adelinetta," Violetta says quietly. "To me, you are everything."  
We stand together, side by side, as sisters should, and together, we watch the first rays of dawn snake across the slowly brightening sky.


End file.
